Adopt an internal AI policy like Games Workshop, businesses urged

Cerys Wyn Davies and Gill Dennis made the recommendation after Games Workshop (GW), the company behind the game Warhammer, confirmed that while it is enabling “a few senior managers” to “be inquisitive” about AI, it has banned use of AI in its design processes.

Clarification on Games Workshop’s approach to AI came in its half yearly report (24-page / 547KB PDF) published on Tuesday.

“We do have a few senior managers that are [expert on AI]: none are that excited about it yet,” said Kevin Rowntree, the company’s chief executive. “We have agreed an internal policy to guide us all, which is currently very cautious e.g. we do not allow AI generated content or AI to be used in our design processes or its unauthorised use outside of GW including in any of our competitions.”

“We also have to monitor and protect ourselves from a data compliance, security and governance perspective, the AI or machine learning engines seem to be automatically included on our phones or laptops whether we like it or not. We are allowing those few senior managers to continue to be inquisitive about the technology. We have also agreed we will be maintaining a strong commitment to protect our intellectual property and respect our human creators,” he said.

Cerys Wyn Davies said it was clear from the comments in the report that Games Workshop is prioritising the protection of its intellectual property and the value of its human creators: “These should be key priorities for all businesses, whilst, as Games Workshop are doing, they explore how AI can enhance their intangible assets and the work of their human creators. With the current legal uncertainties around the protection of copyright materials in the context of their use for the training of AI tools, and more broadly, it is important to ensure the responsible use of AI.”

Gill Dennis added: “This commercial decision recognises that intellectual property lies at the heart of the value of the business. There is considerable legal uncertainty at the moment around whether AI-generated works will continue to be protected by copyright and design rights in the UK. This creates a risk that Games Workshop's competitors could be free to use any AI-generated content it develops in the future. Games Workshop appears to be taking proactive steps to counter that risk.”

Also on Tuesday, Bandcamp announced that music and audio generated wholly or in substantial part by AI would not be permitted on its online music platform, under new AI guidelines it has developed. Those guidelines also prohibit “use of AI tools to impersonate other artists or styles”. 

“We want musicians to keep making music, and for fans to have confidence that the music they find on Bandcamp was created by humans,” Bandcamp said in a statement.